REVIEW BAINBRIDGE ISLAND
STRAIGHT FROM THE GARDEN: Garden club gets ready for big sale. A12
FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2012 | Vol. 112, No. 19 | WWW.BAINBRIDGEREVIEW.COM | 75¢
Judge rules that Ostling had clear right to medical aid in police shooting
One man against the sea
Ostling case goes to trial next week BY BRIAN KELLY Bainbridge Island Review
Rory Wilson photo
Rory Wilson sits in KROS (kite, rowing, ocean, solar), the boat he designed and built. Using oars and the power of wind, harnessed through kites, he will journey across the Pacific Ocean in September.
Math teacher plans to cross the ocean using only oars and kites BY RICHARD D. OXLEY Bainbridge Island Review
The sea is full of big dreams and big ideas. Tales of big white whales or great white sharks requiring “even bigger boats” have always been popular. And over time, ships have grown larger to wrestle with the expansive sea. But one day a Bainbridge Island man looked out at the
ocean and thought to himself: I’m gonna need a smaller boat. Next September, Rory Wilson, a math teacher at Bainbridge High School, plans to cross the Pacific Ocean in a small 7-meter-long vessel, using only the power of his oars and a little help from the wind. “The boat is a combination of rowing and kites,” Wilson said.
He originally began building the small boat in 2006. The result is a Kevlar-andfiberglass boat capable of carrying one person and a little bit of storage. Wilson named the boat KROS; kite, row, ocean and solar — the main elements that power the boat. His trip will take him from San Diego beach to the shores of Hawaii. From there, he has a
couple of options depending on the weather conditions, as well as his own. He will either head north and grab the western flowing winds to take him back to the Pacific Northwest, or head south, hopping from island to island. “I would go onto Fiji, Samoa, on down to Vanuatu, then up to Guam, and up north and catch the
A federal judge has rejected the city of Bainbridge Island’s attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed in the police shooting of Doug Ostling. It was a split decision, however, as the city’s attorneys in the case were able to remove claims from the civil rights lawsuit brought on an individual level by Ostling’s mother, father and sister. U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton also questioned the family’s allegations that better training for police officers would have prevented the death of Ostling, who was shot after officers responded to a 911 call at his family’s home on Oct. 26, 2010. Still, the ruling represented a victory for the Ostling family, who will be able to ask a jury to consider whether it was reasonable for police to deny medical aid to Ostling after he was shot by a Bainbridge Island officer and bled to death while police waited outside his apartment door. The trial is scheduled to begin Monday, May 14 in U.S. Western District Court of Washington in Tacoma. The lawsuit was filed by the Ostling family last year against the city, Police Chief Jon Fehlman and Jeff Benkert, the police officer who fatally shot Ostling. The family alleges that Benkert’s use of excessive force led to Ostling’s death and violated the Ostling family’s constitutional rights. Attorneys for the city had asked the court for a summary judgement on the lawsuit earlier this year. Lawyers for Bainbridge Island said that Ostling’s family could not make Fourth Amendment claims on the use of excessive force because they were not financially dependent on Doug Ostling, and that claims SEE TRIAL, A17
SEE SEA, A11
Police called after someone tries to kill Battle Point Park trees BY RICHARD D. OXLEY Bainbridge Island Review
Battle Point Park is known for its beauty and as a great place for islanders to gather. Joggers love its trails. Athletes enjoy its courts and children take pleasure in its playground. The island’s love of the area has some wondering: Who is trying to kill the trees in Battle
Point Park? On Tuesday, a park employee noticed something shining around the base of a young evergreen tree north of the soccer fields. On a closer look, the worker discovered the tree had a copper wire tightly wrapped around the base of its trunk. He then found that all of the approximately 50 young trees
north of the soccer fields were wrapped with copper wires, as well as a few sequoia trees near the park’s pond. “It’s incredibly upsetting,” said Terry Lande, executive director of the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District. “It was really meticulously done, it wasn’t an accident,” he said.
“It’s purposeful, they knew what they were doing,” added Park Manager Dan Hamlin. “The outcome was meant to kill those trees.” Wrapping wire around the base of a tree is known a “girdling.” The practice is meant to slowly kill a tree by cutting off its supply of nutrients. SEE TREES, A15
Photo courtesy Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office
Doug Ostling was shot by police after confronting two Bainbridge Police officers at the top of a narrow stairway outside his apartment, at the bottom of the photo above, while brandishing a double-bladed ax, according to investigators.